This invention relates to a bicycle holding adapter or "Bike-Vise" for use in bench vises. The adapter enables the individual bicycle owner or "bike shop" to convert an ordinary bench vise into a clamping fixture especially adapted to hold a bicycle for repair and maintenance work.
The prior art includes a number of patents which disclose clamping fixtures of various types to be used in bench vises. U.S. Pat. No. 465,959, issued in 1891 to Verdon, discloses a jaw device with jaw linings for holding pipes in a vise without risk of damage to the pipes. The jaws are pivotably interconnected at their lower ends and their outer surfaces are especially dovetailed to be mounted in the jaws of a particular model vise so that the jaws will "open" and "close" with the vise.
U.S. Pat. No. 569,057 to Reilly, issued in 1896, also shows a vise clamp which is mounted on the upper surface of the vise jaws.
Another similar patent was issued in 1914 to Bowser as U.S. Pat. No. 1,101,396. The Bowser patent discloses a clamp in which its jaws are both slidably and pivotably interconnected to enable it to adjust to various diameter pipes. The patent calls for the clamp to be fitted about the pipe before placing the clamp in the vise. This clamp is not constructed to automatically assume an "open" position in the vise prepared to receive the object to be clamped.
There are a number of patents in which a clamping fixture is composed of two pivotable jaws which are configured to be supported by the jaws of the vise. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 989,382; 1,110,683; 1,249,148; 1,288,178; 2,532,952 and 2,645,963.
While many of the prior art patents provide pipe gripping clamps, none is universally adapted for use in bench vises of any type and which automatically assume a partially "open" stable position in the vise especially adapted to enable a bicycle frame to be readily placed in the adapter using one hand with the other hand being free to tighten the bench vise to clamp the bicycle frame therein.
The principal object of this invention is to provide a bicycle holding adapter of simple and economical construction and which is simple to use in an ordinary bench vise.
It is another object of this invention to provide an adapter of the above type which is especially adapted to receive and support a bicycle frame in an "open" vise and to firmly clamp the same in fixed position when the vise is "closed" to clamp the adapter therein.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a vise adapter of the above type which will clamp and securely hold a bicycle frame for repair or maintenance work thereon without marring or damagint the bicycle frame.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a vise adapter of the above type which can be readily placed in any type of bench vise and operated regardless of the external contours of the vise jaws.